ABSTRACT
For a century before the Restoration there had been fierce debates about the nature and priorities of the Church of England. As established under Elizabeth, it embraced a theology generally seen as Calvinist while largely retaining the pre-Reformation system of church government. To some extent attendance at church was a social duty or habit, an expression of community: even active Dissenters might come to church for marriages or burials, as well as serving as churchwardens, or in other parish offices. It should be stressed that whereas, before the civil wars, puritans had been harassed by church courts and the crown, using powers that were open to question, the persecution of dissent under Charles II rested squarely on the authority of Parliament. For Baptists and Independents, a church was a voluntary association of Visible saints', prepared to subscribe to the church's confession of faith and to submit to its discipline.
